Links

While Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive minds Corey Chamblin and Richie Hall hunker down to cook up a gameplan to stop Jon Cornish, Calgary Stampeders braintrust has a similar problem on their hands.

Stopping Kory Sheets isn’t easy, either.

One day after Cornish was piling up 192 total yards and two touchdowns, Sheets did his best to equal his West Division counterpart, shredding the bewildered Edmonton Eskimos defence to the tune of 145 total yards and a score on 19 touches last weekend.

It’s not a new philosophy. Bottle up the ground game and you’ll have a chance to win.

“He’s very explosive,” Stamps defensive co-ordinator Rick Campbell said. “If you leave a run gap open, he makes you pay big-time, so you need to be assignment-sound. And then No. 2, out of the backfield you need to cover him well. He’s an explosive player if you give him too much space and he can make the big play.”

The Stamps were able to contain Sheets last season yardage-wise, but they couldn’t keep him out of the endzone, as the 5-foot-11, 208-pounder out of Purdue scored five touchdowns in three regular season games and one playoff contest.

It’s in the passing game where Sheets needs to be limited, as he caught 49 balls out of the backfield last season, including five catches for 77 yards and a pair of scores against the Stamps in the West Semifinal.

“If we’re covering him man-to-man, we have to do a great job of coverage on him, and then if we play some type of zone where they check the ball down to him, we have to make sure we rally up and tackle well because, like I said, he’s a guy who capitalizes on mistakes because he’s explosive,” Campbell said.

Linebacker Juwan Simpson is used to trying to contain multi-purpose backs in the CFL.

“He’s a big back. He’s tough. He can run in between the tackles or he can bounce it outside,” Simpson said. “He can catch the ball. He’s a dual-threat running back. He poses the same problems as the other running backs in this league. That’s one thing about it, these running backs up here, they can beat you either way.”

Even though the Stamps stop-unit piled up six sacks of Riders quarterbacks less than two weeks ago at Mosaic Stadium during a 24-23 pre-season win, Sheets gave them something to think about that night, breezing to 97 yards and two touchdowns on the ground and five catches for 31 yards through the air.

“I think he’s a big challenge because Kory Sheets is a scatback and he basically picks and chooses his holes,” Stamps defensive tackle Demonte’ Bolden said.

Simpson, however, sees a well-rounded offence when he breaks down the Riders’ film, so dealing with Sheets — who ran for 1,277 yards and 11 touchdowns last season — isn’t the only chore on the to-do list.

“If you can make any team one-dimensional, whether it’s all run or all pass, you’d like to think you have a good chance of winning, but they’ve got great receivers and (quarterback Darian) Durant, he has a great arm on him,” Simpson said. “It’s going to come down to whoever plays smarter football.

“Even if we eliminate one phase of the game, they’ve got some receivers down the field who can score.”

Stopping Kory Sheets will be key for Calgary Stampeders

While Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive minds Corey Chamblin and Richie Hall hunker down to cook up a gameplan to stop Jon Cornish, Calgary Stampeders braintrust has a similar problem on their hands.

Stopping Kory Sheets isn’t easy, either.

One day after Cornish was piling up 192 total yards and two touchdowns, Sheets did his best to equal his West Division counterpart, shredding the bewildered Edmonton Eskimos defence to the tune of 145 total yards and a score on 19 touches last weekend.

It’s not a new philosophy. Bottle up the ground game and you’ll have a chance to win.